Look Into The Mirror
by booksindalibrary
Summary: Kawahira opened a new restaurant in Namimori, and this doesn't go well for Tsuna. AU in which Tsuna is completely normal. Crossposted From AO3.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: Violence and blood.**

* * *

It was a normal restaurant; that is, until the owner approached him. A man with round glasses, he introduced himself as Kawahira.

"It's nice to meet you," Tsuna mumbled, bowing and shuffling past him to the door.

"Would you like to see something special about this restaurant?" It sounded weird, but Tsuna accepted anyway – it wasn't like anything was going to happen. He was perfectly ordinary, after all.

"May I ask something?"

Tsuna nodded.

"Are you affialiated with the mafia?"

Tsuna stopped and looked strangely at him. "No?"

"Ah." Kawahira nodded. "Well. Enjoy the room. And remember," he added with a wink, "The number of worlds is infinite." He swung the door open and pushed him through, slamming the door shut behind him. Tsuna glanced around, eyeing the mirrors cautiously. A mirror room, that was it?

He sighed, shoulders drooping. "At least I'm away from those bullies," he said dramatically.

" _what bullies?"_

"Oh, you know, the usual," he said casually, then paused. "Wait, who-"

He was looking at himself, but at the same, not quite. Tsuna – the other Tsuna, in the mirror, looked down at his gloved hands. "X is for ten, which is Decimo."

"What?" Tsuna frowned. "...Decimo?" He tried out the word, garbling it. The other him laughed. "Gokudera calls you 'Juudaime', actually."

"...Who? That's a weird name."

The other him laughed again, this time more sadly. "Your right hand man. But you don't know him?"

Tsuna shook his head. "No."

"Yamamoto?"

Tsuna thought for a moment. "You mean the baseball ace?"

"Yeah. Has he broken his arm?"

"No...? We've never talked either."

"Huh." His other self examined him. "So different. You look...unhealthy." Tsuna glanced down at himself, at the skinny frame marked with bruises.

"Yeah, well...people aren't exactly nice."

"I never had it that bad," the other him murmured. "I was lucky. But then again, my father _cared._ " He stared straight through the glass, and Tsuna flinched away. "He cared so much," he spat out. "Like hell he does. He's worthless, and you must stay away, okay?" The other him smiled cruelly. "The best way to do that is to die. Jump off a cliff-"

"Don't listen to him," another voice shouted. "Tsuna," and the real Tsuna approached another mirror, ignoring the hissing from the first.

He looked almost the same, except for his mitts and the '27' in red. "Hey," he said easily. "I'm Tsuna. Like you, I guess." He laughed nervously. "Oh, man, this is weird."

Tsuna looked at the second strangely. "Um...?"

"I'm sorry about those," the second said gesturing. "And – I don't know if, anyone's the same..." He looked depressed for a moment, before perking up. "But life will get better, you'll see!"

"Who are you?" The question popped out of Tsuna's mouth. "You're crazy. You all are."

"Hmph. Stupid little brat-"

"Don't call me stupid-"

"Calm down," the second said frantically. "Don't fight."

"Oh, shut up, you-"

"Don't tell me to shut up when you're invading _my_ world-"

The second sighed. "I can't believe this. My life is a wreck."

"Um, excuse me?" A tentative female voice said, and all three froze. The original Tsuna – for lack of a better word – twisted around and _gaped_ at the girl in the mirror. "My name is Tsuruhime...who are you?"

She ducked her head timidly. "I'm Tsuna," all three chimed in. "And you're a girl," the first said stupidly, flushing.

The original Tsuna shot him a withering look. "You nerd. That's disgusting."

"Hey! I can-"

"Please stop fighting," the girl said, and all three boys shut their mouths. "I'm sorry," she said anxiously, "but this man lead me here, and there's mirror-"

"Same," all three chimed in. The second copy leaned back, and called out, "Gokudera, don't damage the property!"

He looked back apologetically. "Sorry. He's my friend."

"Gokudera's a little shit, more like," the first copy grumbled. "So fuckin' annoying."

The second blinked in surprise.

"Gokudera is nice," the girl said defensively, straightening.

"who the fuck is Gokudera?" The orignal snapped in irritation, then paused. "Um, I don't know much about this mirror thing..."

"Yes?" The first asked. The second only tilted his head.

"But, well, the guy, Kawahira, he said the number of worlds is infinite." It clicked for the others, who each examined their rooms and the mirrors inside. "I don't see any others," Tsuna said after a moment.

The first copy's eyes flashed black, the whites disappearing. "I'm not anywhere else, either."

"None here," the girl said.

The second mutely shook his head, pale. "I see tombstones."

"Static," the original whimpered.

"Black," the first observed coldly, eyes still...abnormal.

The girl only covered her mouth. "I see flames? But..."

"Huh?" The original asked, but the other two flattened themselves against the glass.

"On his forehead?" The second said urgently.

"Hands," the first snapped out.

The girl shook her head. "Around, in the air. Like will-o'-the-whisps."

They all exchanged looks. "I don't understand, but he's dying. The world, it's..." she shook her head. "Destroyed."

Tsuna frowned, not really understanding.

"...I don't see anything," the first suddenly panicked. "I can't see-" and a knife impaled his knee, barbed wire dragging him up by the neck. He gagged as blood poured out, the other three both helpless and frozen with shock.

"Damn, you," he gurgled out, his body swinging against the mirror and the glass cracking. Tsuna jolted back as the cracks showed on _his_ side too. The first's hand slammed against the glass, then pointed upwards, before his whole body sagged.

Blood was trickling down the glass, but none of them could smell it. The first to recover was the girl, who said, "who killed him?"

A helpless shrug from the others, all three ashen.

The girl's mirror went blank, and the last thing they heard was a scream.

The second copy and Tsuna looked at each other with panic in their eyes. "I'm going to die," the original whispered, legs collapsing. "I can feel it, oh god, Tsuna, I'm going to die."

The second copy, the other him, crouched and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know how to help you."

The original gave a shaky smile, before the click of the door made him twist around. "Ah," a white-haired man said, stuffing marshmallows into his mouth. He threw a sheet of fabric so the only person left to witness could no longer see what was going to happen.

The man smiled. "My name is Byakuran, and I'm sorry to do this to you." He reached into his coat and drew out a knife. "But better late than never, hmm? I'm a busy man, and you're too powerful to let live."

The last thing Tsunayoshi Sawada saw was the knife piercing his heart, and blood spilling everywhere.

* * *

 **Tsuna, in this, is completely non-mafia. He has no knowledge of Flames, and doesn't know any of the mafia people.**

 **Prompt: 'au where there is a restaurant in namimori where when you go in there you can see the you's of different timelines (you know the things that byakuran can switch between? i forgot what they were called.) but you can't talk to them, you can just see them. the restaurant belongs to kawahira' [Noodle/Freebird]**

 **As you can see, I shook things up a bit.**

 **The first copy = a Tsuna from the AU where he's a merman. Titled: Never Leave the Island**

 **The second copy = is the actual canon Tsuna (I tried)**

 **The third one = another one from my AU, titled Only You Can (You Are The Boss)**

 **It was probably confusing, so sorry~!**


	2. Chapter 2

Yamamoto Takeshi had heard a lot about this restaurant, but it wasn't like he believed the rumours. Anyway, he wanted nothing to do with it; his baseball career was going great, his life was great, everything was just so fucking great.

Except for the thought that his friends were fake, and the nagging sensation of incompleteness. Not to mention, that restaurant rubbed him the wrong way like nothing else. (Especially given that his mother had had interactions with the place days before she died.)

(In short, Yamamoto knew the restaurant was Bad but couldn't prove it.)

When he found out Tsuna, the infamous Dame-Tsuna, was in hospital, he was sadder than he thought he would be. After all, they had never talked, never hung out, had never been in the same team in gym class – hell, Yamamoto couldn't remember the last time he had said good morning.

But the urge to see Tsuna was strong enough to drag him to the hospital, ask to see Tsuna, and make his way down the familiar halls.

Yamamoto cautiously peered in, wondering why the hell he was here. Tsuna was awake, watching the tv and picking at his food. He jumped at the sight of Yamamoto, face going white with pain.

"Yamamoto-kun," he managed. "W-What are you doing here?"

Yamamoto took that as an invitation and sauntered into the room. "Hey, Tsuna. How are you?" He cursed his easy-going nature. _How are you?_ Isn't it obvious?!  
"I'm fine," Tsuna said by reflex, seemingly still shocked by the baseball ace's presence.

"That's good," Yamamoto said, now feeling distinctly awkward. Why had he come here again? "So, uh, I heard you were...attacked at the restaurant?"

"Yeah," Tsuna said vaguely. "I don't really remember."

Yamamoto wanted to call Tsuna a liar but that would stop the information flooding out. "The restaurant sounds like it has some pretty dangerous chefs, na, Tsuna?"

Tsuna flinched, and Yamamoto again cursed himself. Why couldn't he behave like a normal person and stop fooling around?

"Y-Yeah," Tsuna managed to say. "Well..." He stopped from saying anything more.

"Tsuna?" Yamamoto looked at him blithely. "Something you want to say...?"

Tsuna shrugged, wincing at the pull of stitches. "You wouldn't believe me." More like, Tsuna didn't trust Yamamoto. Did Tsuna even have friends?

Troubled by the thought, but more driven to find out about the restaurant, Yamamoto soon left. He would deal with Tsuna's apparent loneliness later.

~o0o~

Yamamoto tried to behave normally, but it was difficult when a guy your age was glaring at you behind a thick cover of smoke and what he thought was eyeliner. (He would have laughed this off if it was anyone else, but this guy seemed like _trouble._ )

When Yamamoto tried to give a friendly nod, the other spat and turned away. Perplexed, Yamamoto focused back to his food; he was just trying to be friendly?

"Yamamoto Takeshi," a man with round glasses said, standing over him. Yamamoto flinched.

"How do you-"

The man gestured. "Don't you want to know what happened to your mother?"

Yamamoto swallowed thickly. Okay, he knew something was weird, but _who the fuck was this guy._

But of course, this stranger had said the magic words. Yamamoto had to know. So he followed, staring around him in an attempt to _remember._

The man introduced himself as Kawahira, and, opening a door, winked and said, "You'll see a well-kept secret, but don't worry; this time, nothing bad will happen."

"This time-?!" Yamamoto resisted, but Kawahira was unexpectedly strong. He shoved Yamamoto into the room, slamming the door shut and locking it. Yamamoto banged against the door, trying to force it open.

"Hey! Lemme out-"

"Ma, ma, what a strange place," a voice – his voice – said from behind him. Yamamoto froze and turned to face the mirrors.

He was dressed just like him, in a Namimori Middle uniform with a baseball bat resting on his shoulder. He smiled at him(self?).

Yamamoto gaped, the 'reflected' one gaping back.

"Well, this must be part of the mafia game," the other said.

"Mafia game? That sounds like fun."

"It is," the other agreed, glancing around. "Are you in a room full of mirrors as well?"

Yamamoto nodded, and the second Yamamoto grinned easily. "Cool. Uh, do you see anything?"

The mirror-Yamaoto narrowed his eyes at the mirrors around him. ""Well...I don't suppose you see anyone else?"

"No?" Yamamoto squinted at all of them. "Just black."

"Huh." The mirror version of him shrugged, forcing a smile and carelessly saying, "S'all good. So how's your world going?"

"Great," Yamamoto said easily. "The baseball tournament's coming up, and I've been getting a lot of practice in."

"Don't practice too much, you might get injured."

"Yeah, I know."

"And how's Tsuna? Gokudera? Sasagawa-sempai?"

Yamamoto frowned at the mirror. "Um. Tsuna is in hospital, Sasagawa-san's in nationals, and I don't know who Gokudera is."

"Tsuna is in hospital?" The mirror Yamamoto looked startled. "What for?"

"He came to this restaurant and was attacked. He's lucky to be alive, apparently. Like, his heart was punctured, but the owner managed to save his life..." Yamamoto trailed off, frowning, steel flashing in his eyes. "I came here to find out stuff...So I take it, we're not the same Yamamoto?"

"Yeah. A fun game, right?"

"So how's mum in your world?"

The mirror Yamamoto paled. "She's...not around any more."

They stared at each other. "How?"

"Car accident."

"...Oh. Sorry."

"No. But I take it your mum's...?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry."

"Don't be."

Both looked uncomfortable, shifting in place. "Ah, I have to go now," the mirrored one said, turning and waving at an unknown. "See you, maybe? And have fun with life."

"Yeah, see you," he called out after himself, turning as the door clicked open.

"Had fun?" Kawahira asked.

"I guess. But-"

"No more questions," Kawahira said, winking. "But I'll be seeing you again, Yamamoto."

And Yamamoto left the restaurant, more confused than ever.


	3. Chapter 3

Gokudera kept visiting the restaurant, mystified by its popularity and also curious to see if the rumours were true. People could see into other dimensions, those were the whispers, and Gokudera couldn't get away from it.

"You're quite a regular," The owner said eagerly. "Gokudera, right?"

"Kawahira," Gokudera said. "Right?"

"I suppose you want to see the room too, hm?" Kawahira was faking his innocent demeanor, Gokudera was convinced of it.

"Of course," he said anyway.

A smile from the owner, and Gokudera was lead down to the room full of mirrors.

"Don't worry," was all Kawahira said as the door was shut behind him. Suddenly nervous, Gokudera glanced around the room of mirrors, expecting a UMA to jump out.

"Gokudera." His own voice was talking, but it wasn't _him_ that spoke. He turned, finding the source.

"You're me," Gokudera said in surprise to the mirror.

"Alternate universes theory," the mirrored version said. "Juudaime said to come here to see what's happening, but so far you're the only one."

Gokudera squinted at himself. "Who is Juudaime?"

The mirrored one raised his eyes. "He's Juudaime."

"What's his name, idiot."

"Ju- Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"You mean – the one who got stabbed?"

A tense of the shoulders. "Juudaime got stabbed? Are you for-"

"He's alive," Gokudera added hastily. "Is he supposed to be our boss?"

"Yeah. I guess because it's another universe you aren't necessarily Vongola, but he's still important to us. He's Juudaime."

"Vongola? You're-?"

"Yeah."

"That's...okay. That's cool." Gokudera ran a hand through his hair. "This is weird. Is it a dream, or an illusion, or something?"

"Does it matter? This means we mighr be closer to seeing a UMA."

"A good point. Do you think Kawahira is one?"

A casual shrug. "Who is Kawahira?"

Gokudera blinked. "The owner of the restaurant."

A bland smile. "Never heard of him."

Gokudera cocked his head. "What-"

Behind him, the door opened. Kawahira stood there, gesturing at Gokudera. "Time's up."

~o0o~

Gokudera placed a cigarette in his mouth, annoyed at everything and _especially_ at Kawahira. Not enough time, he thought angrily, wondering what the fuck that was all about. He loitered outside the restaurant, struggling to theorise what exactly had happened.

"Hey, you were just in the room, right?" A smiling idiot with a baseball cap was talking to him.

"What if I was?" Gokudera inserted a certain amount of aggression.

"I've been there too," the other said simply. "I'm Yamamoto Takeshi."

Gokudera stared at him. "Gokudera Hayato," he said blankly, unsure why he responded.

"Did you see yourself, in that room?"

"Yeah," Gokudera said, vaguely annoyed for no real reason. "I take it you did."

"Yeah," Yamamoto agreed, sounding too fucking cheerful about all of this. An idiot like him had no right to see the room, either. What was that stupid restaurant owner thinking?

"My...other self mentioned something about a Sawada?" And the mafia, but that wasn't the point. He'd deal with _that fact_ later.

"You mean Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked. "What about him?" Now the baseball idiot was cagey.

"I want to meet him," Gokudera said, and Yamamoto hesitated.

"Uh-"

"I'm not gonna do anything," Gokudera snapped. "I just want to meet him." The one his other self called 'Juudaime'. The Tenth of what? Vongola? But the Ninth had all his heirs intact, no need for Sawada. Unless there was something special about him? God, he was so confused.

Yamamoto finally relented. "Okay, fine."

~o0o~

It was surprisingly easy to visit Tsuna. Gokudera expected more barriers, but sure enough he was walking with Yamamoto to his hospital room.

Yamamoto slid open the door with a cheerful, "Hello, Tsuna."

Tsuna looked at them, expression blank. "Hey."

"Is something wrong?" Yamamoto entered, relaxed, and Gokudera closed the door behind them.

"No?" Tsuna smiled at them. Gokudera would've bet a lot of money to say that was fake.

"If you say so." Either Yamamoto believed it or he was good at pretending otherwise.

Tsuna flicked a glance at Gokudera. "Who are you?"

"Gokudera Hayato. You've been in the room of mirrors." Gokudera decided to cut right to the point. "What did you see?"

Tsuna shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, well. Other 'me's, I guess."

"How many?" Gokudera ignored the warning look Yamamoto shot at him.

"Three others, although one was a girl."

Gokudera frowned. "I only saw one."

Yamamoto nodded. "So did I. Why are we different?"

Gokudera rubbed his chin, plopping down in one of the chairs. Yamamoto sat in the other. "Sawada-san," Gokudera said seriously, "will you tell me what else you saw?"

Tsuna licked his lips. "Uh-"

"You don't have to answer," Yamamoto rushed in, waving a hand. Gokudera glared for a moment before relenting.

"Yeah, okay, you don't have to," he said sheepishly. "But it would help."

Tsuna stared at his hands in his lap. "I saw two of them die."

A beat of silence as the other two waited patiently. "One – the girl. The mirror went black and I heard her scream. The other, I saw him – choke. Bleed out. The mirror, it broke." Tsuna took a deep, shuddering breath. "And then the man entered, and stabbed me."

"And the other was unharmed?" When Tsuna nodded, Gokudera hissed out air.

"So weird." Gokudera stood, nodding at both of them. "I'll get out of your way then." At the door, he said, "Thanks."

~o0o~

After Yamamoto said good bye to Tsuna, the boy sat there dumbly. He had lost interest in everything. Not to mention he was going to be discharged soon, and then the bullying would start back up.

"Tsuna-kun," A creeping voice said as the door slid open once more. When the man stepped in, Tsuna lunged for the button to call the nurse. One hand darted out to stop him, and the white-haired man smiled at him. "That won't do."

Tsuna was shaking and sweating uncontrollably, trying to pull away. Byakuran, stuffing marshmallows in his mouth, flopped into a chair. "I'm not going to do anything this time," he said reassuringly.

Tsuna shook his head, still trying to escape.

"I mean it. It's more interesting to keep you alive, I've found." Byakuran leaned forward, smile widening. "I have an offer for you."

* * *

 **hello yes I wouldn't be surprised if this was yet another confusing chapter**

 ***shrug***


	4. Chapter 4

"A-An offer," Tsuna stammered out. "What do you mean?"

Byakuran smiled at him. "I suspect that you have, ah, latent abilities that will aid me. And in exchange for your help, I'll give you something in return."

"Latent abilities?" That wasn't right. There was no way Dame-Tsuna could have anything like that - he was useless. Besides, he couldn't trust the guy that put him in hospital anyway.

He forced himself to be still, to watch this strange person carefully. Maybe someone could help him with this later – but he didn't know anyone who would be willing to.

"I can heal you," Byakuran said, waving at Tsuna. "It'd be pretty easy." He winked at Tsuna, and Tsuna looked away, feeling distinctly uncomfortable.

"I'm not going to work with you," he said flatly, remembering the _pain_ of watching his blood and the feeling of the knife being retracted, the cold metal and the _burning everything was burning-_

"I'll handle anything too difficult," Byakuran cooed. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you're safe." His voice was...strangely soothing, Tsuna noted. If he hadn't gone into that room, could this man have been his friend?

"I'm not stupid," Tsuna protested, really wishing he'd never gone to that awful restaurant. If he hadn't - he wouldn't be here. He wouldn't be in the hospital, he wouldn't be talking this...monster, he wouldn't have to deal with Yamamoto or his foreign friend.

He just wanted to be normal. Why was that so hard to manage?

As if he read his mind, marshmallow-man leaned forward and smiled gently at him, almost pityingly.

"If you want, I can help deal with the bullies. And give you a normal life."

...Yeah, this guy was probably reading his mind. His eyes were a little too piercing, his smile a little too knowing.

(But Tsuna couldn't be sure. He was _dame_ and stupid and useless-)

"I can even tell you about your father," he continued. "About him and your mother - your family, really. About the other worlds you saw..." He trailed off, watching Tsuna's expressions shift and collide.

"Why did you stab me?" He asked hoarsely. "If Kawahira-san hadn't been there to stop the bleeding-" _by sticking his hands in Tsuna's chest and closing the wound,_ "-then I'd be dead right now."

"I wanted you dead," he said cheerfully. "In other worlds, you're a huge threat. The biggest one."

"Surely not all of them," Tsuna said, feeling his face go pale. The heart monitor showed his pulse remained the same. That can't be right – he could feel his heart hammering against his ribs.

"In the other ones, you're either dead or normal."

"Dead?" Tsuna jolted in his seat sharply, bile rising in his throat. "What the _fuck_ do you mean?"

The man closed his eyes briefly as though pained. When he opened them again, his eyes were dull. "I liked my fights against you," he said regretfully. "They were always entertaining. The best victories."

"I'm-?"

"But in other worlds, you've either killed yourself or been killed already."

Tsuna clutched the blankets, feeling himself fall backwards. A faint buzzing in his ears-

 _(Dame-Tsuna, dame-Tsuna, dame-Tsuna-)_

Hands on his face, concern in his eyes. "Would a marshmallow make you feel better?" Byakuran was peering down at him.

Tsuna stared up at him. "But in other worlds I'm normal?"

"Perfectly normal," Byakuran agreed. "The worlds in which you're dead are very few." Something told Tsuna he was lying, but he had no proof. This man – everything he said sounded effortless and natural. Byakuran released him and sat back down.

Tsuna felt his body crumple, strength draining out. "What do you want?"

"Your help," was the immediate response.

"With what? What could you want from someone like me?"

Byakuran smiled again, holding out a packet of marshmallows. Tentatively, Tsuna took one.

"That all depends." He waved a hand through the air. "I'll explain it all to you in good time."

Tsuna nodded, the sweetness in his mouth off-setting the bile. "Uh, if I may ask..."

"Hmm?"

"What's your name?"

"Oh, I haven't told you?" Byakuran seemed genuinely surprised by that. "My name's Byakuran." He clapped his hands together, dropping the packet in his lap. "Now, would you like to know everything now or later?"

"Isn't it a bad idea for you to tell me now?"

"You'll break the deal?"

"I haven't agreed to that..."

"You haven't?"

"...Is your memory okay?"

Byakuran rubbed the space between his eyebrows. "Sorry, Tsuna-kun. With all of these worlds, it gets a bit messy inside my head. You know how it is."

"No, I don't," Tsuna muttered. Louder, he said, "I might as well agree to the deal."

Byakuran paused, then brightened. "You will?"

"I have nothing to lose," Tsuna said dully.

"You have a lot to lose," Byakuran scolded. "But now that I have your word – do you want to know?"

"Is it going to take long?"

"Not as long as you think."

"Then...yeah? Why not. We have all night."

"Great." Byakuran popped another marshmallow in his mouth. "What would you like to know first?"

"Why were you fighting me - er, fighting other mes?"

"That's a long story...but in essence, you become a mafia boss, usually the Tenth – but that varies – and I'm also a mafia boss - which is true in almost all worlds at this point - and we fight as the two biggest mafia bosses."

"M-Mafia?" Tsuna was still stuck on 'mafia boss'. "I'm...mafia?"

"Oh yes. Your ancestor, Ieyasu, who was known as Giotto in Italy, founded the mafia family, Vongola. Which is now the strongest mafia family, by the way. In this world, as well as many others."

"Vongola..." Tsuna repeated faintly.

"You aren't in training because the Ninth's children are all still alive. His three- ah, four sons."

"So in the worlds I'm a mafia boss, this ninth boss guy doesn't have children?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes I kill them." Byakuran placed a finger on his lips, winking mischievously. "Don't worry. I haven't got around to that just yet."

"Okay?"

"And then there are Flames. Made from your soul, if you will." Byakuran waved his hands through the air again. "I'm always bad at explaining this part."

"I don't think I'm ready for that sort of information just yet," Tsuna said hastily. He wasn't too keen on finding out more about anything otherworldly. The inky eyes, the room of mirrors _(and the pain of being stabbed-)_ was enough of Tsuna. "Back to the whole mafia-boss thing..."

Byakuran nodded sagely. "Are you pleased to know that?"

"Is that all I'm left with? Normal, dead, or a mafia boss?"

Byakuran looked at Tsuna curiously. "Where I say 'normal', I mean any fate not 'dead' or mafia-related. It could be anything, really."

"O-Oh."

"Mafia's the most common fate, given your father works in that world."

"That no-good father?"

"Ah, so he's terrible in this world too?"

"Yeah, he is." Tsuna pulled a face.

"In any case..." Byakuran offered Tsuna another marshmallow. "I don't have the memories of literally all the worlds. That'd be a bit too much."

"Too much?"

Bykuran smiled patiently. "There's an infinite number of worlds, Tsuna-kun. I can theoretically fit it all in, but I'd have to risk my sanity. I'm already pushing it by focusing on ten worlds a day."

"Ten..."

"But we're all expert information gatherers and the like, so for the most part it's fairly easy. Although admittedly, some worlds are dramatically different to ours. I may to blame in some, but in others..." Byakuran looked troubled for a bit.

"O-Oh." Tsuna stared down at his hands. "Um, Byakuran-san..."

"Yes?" Byakuran's expression cleared.

"Are you planning on making me a mafia boss?"

"Not quite."

"Then what?"

"I'd rather you join my mafia family, or take on government work as a bureaucrat." Both roles put him in some form of power, Tsuna realised.

"Um. I don't think I'm smart enough..."

"Nonsense," Byakuran brushed Tsuna's words aside with another wave of his hand. "You just need a little... _unsealing."_

The glint in Byakuran's eyes made Tsuna fear for his life.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **this chapter was longer than I expected (I thought I'd look at like, dera or yams some more...but idk dudes).**

 **while it's a recap of the series in some places (sorry!) I thought it'd be prudent to set up the places where canon-tsuna and this-version-of-tsuna line up. hope it didn't confuse anyone asqdfvgbhnjm**


End file.
